UNESCO Chairs dedicated to living heritage met in Paraguay

This week the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage meets in Paraguay. 

Every year, this meeting brings together the living heritage global community.

In this framework an exchange meeting for UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks dedicated to living heritage was held on Monday, 2 December. This was an opportunity to present our recent and current initiatives to other chairholders.

The UNESCO Chair on Applied Studies of Intangible Cultural Heritage (University of Tartu) was represented by Margit Siim from the Estonian National Commission for UNESCO.

In this context the following aspects of our work were highlighted:

• Collaborative initiatives with partners in Africa, notably Botswana (seminar ‘Learning with living heritage in and out of school’) and Namibia (establishing a new UNESCO Chair in Namibia in the field of living heritage);
• 3 ongoing large research projects, focusing on Living Heritage and community engagement: European Commission funded Horizon (CULTURALITY and RISE UP) and CHANSE schemes (CRIES=Crises Established Singing);
• Research component of the Finland led LIVIND project, jointly with UNESCO Chair on Intangible Cultural Heritage Policy and Law at the Latvian Academy of Culture; 
• Participation in the UNESCO Chairs Network, focusing particularly on the issue of inequalities, notably webinar talks;
• Participation at an expert meeting on living heritage and climate change, held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris in June.

The UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks is a network of universities around the world that supports UNESCO’s work. Learn more about the UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks dedicated to living heritage.

See also the homepage and Facebook page of the UNESCO Chair on Applied Studies of Intangible Cultural Heritage.